The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins

Evan’s ESS = 8 out of 10

Erin’s ESS = 8.5 out of 10

Content = PG-13 (Violence, Adult Content, Violence, Drunkenness, Hovercrafts)

“Happy Hunger Games!  And may the odds be ever in your favor.”

Why:  Okay, it might be a tad presumptuous to take on three books in one review, however due to some difficult staffing decisions here at Two Bibliomaniacs, we must boldly confront this challenge.

We should really begin by saying that The Hunger Games trilogy lived up to the hype (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay).  This statement should not be taken lightly considering the torrid love affair that the blogosphere has enjoyed with these novels.  The series really is YA dystopian fiction at its best. 

Imagine a country with absolute government oppression, where the population is split into 12-ish districts and children are pitted against one another in an annual death match.  Such is the nightmarish reality for Katniss Everdeen and everyone else living in bizarro North America.  In one of its many displays of power, the Capital hosts an annual televised event where 1 girl and 1 boy are randomly chosen to participate in the ultimate fight for survival.  With these brutal games as the backdrop Katniss’s personal struggle quickly becomes even more significant than she could have ever imagined.

This series held us captivated from start to finish.  Looking back, there was even a comical 2-3 hours where we frantically tried to locate a copy of Catching Fire.  We’d like to officially apologize to the elderly woman and two small children who were slightly injured in our search... 

To be honest, it took us a few days before we could pass any final judgment on this series and we still don’t know how to feel about some components of the ending.  The subject matter in The Hunger Games is weighty and pleasantly thought provoking.  There’s love, action, force-fields, and hovercrafts.  Yep, we said hovercrafts...  The characters were also very complex, forcing us to wrestle with many of their choices throughout the series.  Yet, every time we questioned Katniss (which was rather frequently) we were reminded that she was forced into an arena and left to brutally kill or be killed by her peers.  It wasn’t hard to give her and a few of the other characters (Haymitch) a free pass.

Alright, who’s ready to rebel against the Capital with us?  Fine, but we’re still in the mood to rebel against something... Got it!  Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights.  Seriously, who’s with us?!

Editor’s Note:  Rest assured, we were only kidding about the aforementioned staffing decisions.

Top 10 Authors who Deserve more Recognition

Question: Top 10 authors who deserve more recognition?

Answer: At this point in our reading endeavors we’re very loyal to the reading list produced by the BBC’s Big Read campaign.  Needless to say, most of these authors aren’t struggling with name recognition, although we did try to avoid some of the really BIG names.  While you may recognize some of the below authors, we believe they deserve even more recognition.  Links to our reviews are highlighted.

1. Jasper Fforde (The Eyre Affair)
2. Dodie Smith (I Capture the Castle)
3. Louise Rennison (Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging)
4. Carlos Ruiz Zafon (The Shadow of the Wind)
5. Donna Tartt (The Secret History)
6. Kazuo Ishiguro (Never Let Me Go)
7. Marian Keyes (Sushi for Beginners)
8. Francine Rivers (Redeeming Love)
9. Diane Setterfield (The Thirteenth Tale)
10. Andrea Levy (Small Island)

Have a great week and head on over to The Broke and the Bookish to join the fun!

Book Blogging Videos (The Other Boleyn Girl)

The wait is over... BOOK BLOGGING VIDEOS has finally arrived! 

As we described last week, the rules are eerily simple: Participants should substitute one written book review every other week with a video review.  Any genre is acceptable and frankly, as long as the video is related to bookish topics, we want to see it (reading off camera while your cat sits on the couch IS acceptable)!

We’re not promising anything with our video and we’re fairly confident no new achievements in cinematography have been achieved.  In fact, we’re hoping we didn’t embarrass ourselves too badly. 

Enjoy the train wreck, as we review (in our own way) - The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory.

Please enter the link to your Vlog in the below linky so we can visit your masterpiece!!!

Blog Hop and Follow - 3/25

Thanks to Crazy-For-Books and Parajunkee’s View for hosting these fun events. On to the questions!

Question: If you could physically put yourself into a book or series... which one would it be and why?

Answer: This is easy!  If we could absolutely pick only 1 book or series, it would be The Hobbit / Lord of the Rings.  The world is endlessly vivid and there are so many amazing things to discover.  Ideally, our visit would not coincide with the height of Lord Sauron’s reign.  We’d love to visit the Shire and Rivendell! 

Well, that’s our pick and we’re sticking to i..... Oh, but Pride and Prejudice would be great too.  And Harry Potter...  Oh, and we completely forget about The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  And Gone with the Wind.  And speaking of wind, the book cemetery in The Shadow of the Wind.  And The Other Boleyn Girl...

Sorry, we cheated a little bit this week.......

Question:  Five book related silly facts about you.

Answer: First of all, nothing we do is ever “silly”, it’s always super cool and hip.... 

1.       Whenever reading a hard cover we always remove the dust jacket

2.       We are continuously reorganizing our home library, which is a huge stress release

3.       We are unable to read in any type of moving vehicle

4.       Second hand book stores are a favorite “date night” location

5.       We love collecting interesting magnetic bookmarks

Don’t forget to check back on Monday when we officially kick off BOOK BLOGGING VIDEOS!  An epic new meme where Vloggers can share their video reviews!!!

The Color of Magic

The Color of Magic – Pratchett, Terry

Evan’s ESS = 6.15 out of 10

Erin’s ESS =  out of 10

Content = PG-13 (Adult Content, Language, Violence, Imaginary Flying Reptiles, Epic Board Games)

“My name is immaterial,” she said.

“That’s a pretty name,” said Racewind.

“No, what he didn’t like about heroes was that they were usually suicidally gloomy when sober and homicidally insane when drunk.”

Why:  This absolutely kills us to admit, but we…  Wow, this is more difficult than we thought... We just don’t get what all the hoopla’s about.  Yes, it’s hilarious that The Color of Magic is set on a disk balanced on the back of three elephants, all balancing on a giant turtle.  And the footnote technique utilized is almost always funny, but…  We may very well be the only 2 people within the literary fantasy community that didn’t like this book, which is just bizarre considering only one of us has actually read the novel. 

Okay, we’ll stop apologizing for our tastes.  On the surface, The Color of Magic seemed like a literary match made in heaven.  We envisioned long walks on the beach together and late night rendezvous under the bed covers (with the lights on).  This novel has everything:  Wizards with questionable talents, upside-down mountain ranges and heroic enchanted luggage trunks.  Even Zephyrus, one of the gods controlling the fate of the main characters is a hoot considering that he holds the power over slight breezes.  Unfortunately for us, the honeymoon only lasted halfway through page 14.  For whatever reason we got lost in the overly zany plot and the humor missed its target. 

All that being said, we’re determined to press ahead.  Terry Pratchett’s written close to a zillion novels about the Discworld and maybe our second visit will be the charm.  Plus we’ve already committed to reading Mort in the 2^nd challenge.    

Editor’s Note:  Our European reader’s should please be aware that this review is actually referring to The Colour of Magic.  Sorry for any confusion.

Book Blogging Videos!!!

The world of Vlogging is both intimidating and alien to a pair of technologically challenged bibliomaniacs such as us.  Yet, intrigue is beckoning us ever closer to this mysterious world... 

For this reason, Two Bibliomaniacs is about to kick off a brand new Vlogging meme-ish sort of thing.  BOOK BLOGGING VIDEOS!!! The rules are eerily simple:  Participants should substitute one written book review every other week with a video review.  Any genre is acceptable and frankly, as long as the video is related to a bookish topic, we want to see it (reading a script off camera while your cat sits on the couch IS acceptable)! 

We saw several 2011 blogging resolutions related to increased Vlogging and the goal of Book Blogging Videos is to step out from behind the keyboard and embrace the spoken word!!!    

Next Monday we’ll post our first ever video book review and we’d love to see yours too!  We’ll include a Linky with the post and plan to run this feature biweekly.    

Join us as we embrace the future... or at least embarrass ourselves on camera.

Sound fun?  or no way, no how?  

Murder on the Orient Express

Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie

Evan’s ESS = 9 out of 10

Erin’s ESS =  out of 10

Content = PG (Violence, Adult Content, Pointy Moustaches, Lying)

“The impossible cannot have happened, therefore the impossible must be possible in spite of appearances.”

Why: For us, Murder on the Orient Express felt a little bit like the board game Clue. Although, come to think about it, maybe Clue was modeled after similar murder mystery novels, in which case, Murder on the Orient Express has a feel much like Murder on the Orient Express... It should also be known that we’ve never actually completed a full game of Clue, which proves once again, we have no idea where we’re going with this opening... Sorry.

Agatha Christie rules! This was our first experience with the queen of murder / mystery novels and the gal did not disappoint. The story takes place on the Orient Express with internationally acclaimed detective, Hercule Poirot as one of the passengers. As you can probably guess, a murder eventually takes place in one of the first class passenger compartments. Dun-dun-dun, dun. Poirot and his legendary moustache are on the case at once, though it will take every ounce of their combined wit to identify the murderer.

Murder on the Orient Express was thoroughly enjoyable. The personalities on the train are fantastic, none to be outdone by Mrs. Hubbard. The investigation was very structured and conducted in specific stages including personal interviews. It really allowed us to try and solve the mystery in real time. It should be noted however, that our guess was completely wrong when the veil was finally lifted (it turns out that neither Colonel Mustard or his candlestick were even on the train).

Editor’s Note: We have several personal cases we’d love Hercule Poirot to solve. So far, whenever we interview the kids, it’s always the same person: Mr. Nobody. Some day we’re going to catch that wretched breaker of valuable objects...